


Prologue

by kswriter



Series: The Next Level [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Athletes, Coach - Freeform, College Sports, CoverUp, Injury, Interview, Other, Sports, famous athlete, reverb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:56:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28917942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kswriter/pseuds/kswriter
Summary: "How's Minoe now after the surgery?""Well..."orAyeese Norman gets "candid" about her life as coach for the Norman Crows, on live tv.
Series: The Next Level [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2121036





	Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Instead of doing this on Wattpad I decided to post my original works here. If any of you from Wattpad have come here, welcome back! To those who are new, I hope you stay around. This is one of the first originals I've completed, if you've seen my drafts, it is an accomplishment. I'll let you go now, enjoy! It is a bit rough since it's my first book, but I hope I've edited it enough that it seems sorta cohesive.

**APRIL**

**THE** Norman Crows were National Champions for the tenth time in Division I history. An achievement that no one has ever reached in their time as an established school. Not that it was a surprise to those competing in the league. Ayeese could remember her smile and the cheers of her players as the final buzzer rang. It was the day she was the happiest, up until the accident. 

The Crows were at the top of every sports competition that related to the sport known as  _ reverb _ . It simply was just how it was. It’s been that way ever since the sport gained popularity. It also helped that Norman University was the home and founding grounds for reverb. It wasn't a shock to every other team that they were going to be the dominant ones, the toughest to beat when it came down to the championship brackets. Youth, high school, collegiate. Whatever level of competition, whatever there was to win, they won. Every single time.   
  
Winning was just another milestone, another step towards cementing their legacy within the world they created. Winning felt like there was something to be accomplished, to be  _ earned _ . After all the hard work, you’d want it to pay off wouldn’t you? Then again, bragging rights were quite liberating. Things just had to come crashing down when Minoe Lapelle, their star striker broke his hand during a game. That stupid fucking game. 

The season had ended a bit earlier than usual due to games being postponed or even canceled throughout the typical fall season. By the time the spring season had rolled around the corner, there had been six teams competing with a clean record of games. None missed, none canceled. There was fear this season, not that Minoe Lapelle had anything to do with that. After all, he was a freshman, inexperienced and reckless. No one believed that. The videos and highlights uploaded onto youtube said enough about his skill. 

Trepidation was a strong emotion, one that was constant and overpowering than the rest. People were cautious against the new prodigy who knew the ins and outs of this sport. The prodigy who knew what to exploit, what move to get past your guard. Due to many no shows this season, it’d been a clean sweep, which was incredibly boring. There was no challenge, no thrill. It was plastic, maybe even a bit stale, but the game still held a sense of joy to those who were in too deep. 

It was an honor to be crowned the best, and Ayeese saw to it that they  _ stayed  _ the best. It’d be months before the season started up again, but the next best thing they could do was celebrate, maybe even be lazy, but her players always had something in mind. A party was one of them. Alcohol followed shortly after. 

_ "What do you say, one more game?" She'd heard Ariken say to Minoe from her spot at one of the tables. _

_ Ayeese had to "chaperone" because many of her players were underage, and she knew damn well that the team she'd led to victory were going to start cracking out the bottles at any given chance. _

_ The café, which started off clean and glossy, soon turned into a mess of a wet mess of confetti and spilled drinks. It did not resemble the usual pristine off black room, where they would eat and grab coffee before running off to their classes. No. The cafe was dark, and ominous, the only source of light were the strobing colorful fissures that cast neon shadows across her intoxicated players as they moved. The room was a chaotic disaster. It was a miracle no one had broken a bottle or even went over the counter at their rather discombobulated dancing. If you could even call what they were doing dancing. _

_ "Are you sure? We just got off from a really grueling matchup." Minoe had said, basically shouting to be heard over the loud blaring music. _

_ "Don't tell me you're scared," he teased the younger boy. "That was nothing compared to last year's high school league." _

_ Minoe set down his cup of spiked punch, readjusting the wrist brace he'd slipped on directly after the game. Her—the boy was always prone to aching wrists whenever he left everything on the court. "Fine." _

"And then everything just went downhill from there," Ayeese said to the woman in front of her, a sad smile tugging at her lips.

It had been a week since the events of the infamous fracture, but the press and Raya Reynolds had wanted the first scoop. The blonde bimbo always wanted the first drop at the news and interviews like she was entitled to such privy information. 

Raya Reynolds, how do you describe her without being too harsh? She was a rather pretty woman for her age, and was the most fakest and insincere person you’d ever meet. Raya was a gossiper, a person who held onto information only to use it against you. She did not care about your well being, only if it’d benefit her status. Which is how Ayeese ended up here on her talk show. 

The Raya Reynolds Show was the top show that discussed the popular sport known as reverb and was famous solely because of that. Raya had transformed her show into everything relating to the popular sport after an interview went viral. She began taking on news reports and even interviewing the best known teams in both Division I and the professional leagues. It’d skyrocketed her career as a talk-show host and overall media personality. Exposure she did not deserve. 

“How so?” Raya asked, right hand resting against her face as she leaned close, captivated by Ayeese’s story. “What happened after that?” 

“When Larian and I created reverb, it wasn’t meant for the delicate flowers. It was meant for the thorny roses who weren’t afraid to spill just a bit of blood to get ahead. Our fusion of the sports we chose are hard hitting that even playing a light, fair game between two friends can go off the rails.”

Reverb was a fusion of the most popular sports known to the world, and was created after two twenty year olds were bored out of their minds after a grueling college year. Ayeese could still remember how it came to be as clear as day, as if it happened yesterday.

Ayeese and Larian had experimented on the concept in many places before it gained popularity. It was also an idea they had been brainstorming since they were sixteen, young and hungry for something new and exciting. It had started on a soccer field, where they were looked at for being freaks for bringing lacrosse sticks (at the time) onto the field. Then it went onto a hockey rink, where they gained the idea of using barricades to make it as ruthless as the sport. Lacrosse, obviously a main factor in having netted racquets that were deep and not shallow like tennis. Someone had recorded one of these outings, maybe an employee of some sort who had seen them frequenting these places, she didn't know. All Ayeese knew that it had blown up massively at the time. 

With the grittiness of lacrosse, the competitiveness of ice hockey, and the endurance of soccer, what was there to not love? The sport filled adrenaline junkies with fervor they could never get from anything else, sans drugs, but there was a downside to this competitive sport. There is always one.

Injuries.

Definitely the injuries. It could range from a simple pull of a muscle, to a broken nose, to a full rough fracture of a bone. It was how her sports career ended. Too many torn ACLs after the daring sprints and passes she committed her body and soul to. Ayeese missed the exhilaration the sport brought her, the same exhilaration she would never be able to experience ever again. But she tried these days. Ayeese tried to find the simple joys in life, tried to connect with her son outside of this chaotic world. Nothing stuck. But she really was happy, just not fearless. 

Raya leaned forward, knuckles turning white as she gripped her desk, looking the opposite of the cool calm collected talk show and instead a fair feral cat. The action is what made Ayeese come back to reality after a noticeable long pause. "What happened?" She wanted the full scoop on Minoe’s injury and was not taking it particularly well as her producers might've hoped. What a gullible bitch.

"I don’t really know what happened as I was busy looking out for the others," Ayeese managed in a composed voice, words she forced through her teeth. There were things that were meant to stay private. "But we all knew how Minoe Lapelle and Ariken Kaede don't hold back when it comes to games." She got a small encore of laughter. "Unfortunately there were unforeseen variables. After the game we figured that Minoe wouldn't be as strong after the grueling matchup. And in the end all it took was one wrong tweak and a surprisingly strong check, and the bones just  _ cracked _ ." If only it were that simple. 

"Any update on his condition?" Worry coating Raya's words as if she cared about the prodigy.

Ayeese took in a deep breath. "We are aware that he is healing and that he should start physical therapy in a couple months." Also a lie.

Minoe had left the Nest directly after the fracture and he hadn’t allowed anyone to visit. Especially her. Ayeese didn’t know why, she was the closest thing to family he had and he hadn’t allowed her any inclination of his state. So Ayeese had to do whatever she could to make things convincing. 

Reverb fans were hardcore and toed the line of extremists, the Crows never mentioning Minoe ever again just made everything seem so shady. Hence the interview that focused solely on him with no mentions of the rest of the Crows or even about Ayeese herself. The media was real fucking shitty sometimes. 

"How is this going to affect the team's dynamic with half of your strike force out of commission?"

Ayeese smiled at that, genuinely smiled as the interview went towards the whole team. At least it was something. "With Minoe out and healing it opens up a new spot for one of our younger players to take over and establish a name for themselves."

"I hope the season goes well. We all can’t wait to see how the Crows dominate this season." Raya looked towards the studio audience. "Unfortunately that will end the show. Thank you all and goodnight!"


End file.
